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Arts & Digital Media Division |
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Greetings!
What a year we’ve had! This year saw the grand opening of our new state of the art facilities at HLC 2000 with three open houses, the return to live performances and exhibits, and a full slate of courses that welcomed our students back with hands-on instruction.
There is much to celebrate, indeed, and this newsletter is a celebration of all we have accomplished this year. There is a renewed sense of collaboration and creativity in this division, and I have sensed the energy in the air as I walked around and witnessed our outstanding faculty and students in action.
Growing up, one of my favorite comic strips was Calvin and Hobbes. It perfectly captured the experience of childhood imagination and adventure. To use a quote from its creator, Bill Waterson said that “Art has to keep moving and discovering to stay alive.” The stage is set for this division to move ahead in the coming years and discover innovative ways to train our future artists for dynamic careers in all creative areas. At ACC, the arts are very much alive!
I want to thank all of the department chairs, faculty, staff and students of this division for their dedication and tenacity this year. I am thrilled to see what the upcoming academic year will bring–and I hope you will, too.
Perry Crafton, Interim Dean of Arts and Digital Media
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Top image photo credit: TAG |
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Familiar and New: Highlights from the Art Department Permanent Collection |
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The Art Galleries Exhibition
The Art Galleries (TAG) at Austin Community College are now open for the summer! Come check out our new exhibition in Gallery 2000 and visit our website to flip through our Online Exhibition Guide. Familiar and New: Highlights from the Art Department Permanent Collection
We are open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays 10:00am to 4:00pm. Please visit our website for more information.
Photo credit: TAG
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ACC Performs First Opera! |
For the first time since its inception in 1973, the ACC Music Department has been offering an opera workshop class. This is an introductory performing and movement course designed to nurture confidence and teamwork in singers. Students learn and apply vocal and acting techniques for the operatic, art song, and musical theater medium. Dr. Blythe Cates envisions collaborations with other departments throughout the college that meet the requirements of students pursuing a degree in music. The goal of the voice area, Dr. Cates says “is to provide our students with comprehensive training to set them up for success in whatever avenue of music they pursue.” The Austin area is a source for some of the best singing performers in the country. The attractiveness of having a comprehensive opera workshop program at Austin Community College will have a tremendous impact on both the music department’s enrollment and other liberal arts departments.
The workshop’s first production, a children’s opera entitled, Little Red’s Most Unusual Day, was performed in April of this year to excellent audiences and positive reviews. In this operatic retelling of a classic fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood recounts the events of the day she went to visit her granny. Who knew the series of unfortunate events that would happen that day, including her granny kissing a wolf, Forest Ranger Dudley losing his pants, and Little Red getting in trouble? This performance is a great introduction to opera for children and adults of all ages.
The class has an exciting and ambitious performance schedule this year with performances of Warren Miller’s The True Story of Cinderella in the fall and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas to finish up our year.
For more information on the opera workshop class and our performance schedule, please contact [email protected].
Photo credit: Dwayne Barnes
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Music Students Accepted to Universities in Record Numbers |
The Music Department at ACC has been hard at work assisting our students get prepared for university auditions all year long. We are proud to announce that we have had a record number of students apply, and be accepted for some of the most prestigious music schools in Texas. We had a total of thirteen students accepted into 7 different universities. Please join us in congratulating Lillian Brenner, Jack O’Neal, Kim Augustine, Hannah Benitez, Matias Garcia, David Bustos, Cassie Baker, Theo Snow, Enzo Soenen, Miles Jackson, Gesuina Campos, Ayla Hanson, and Greg Pracht in their new endeavors!
Photo credit: Music Department
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Staff Spotlight: Olivia Spiers |
The Art Galleries (TAG) at ACC is thrilled that Olivia Spiers joined our team this past spring. As Gallery Coordinator for Outreach and Programs, Olivia is leading our efforts in creating educational content and events related to our exhibitions, finding new audiences to come see the artwork in the galleries, and promoting our programs online and in print media. She comes to ACC after recently completing her M.A. in Arts Education, with a focus in Museum Education, at UT Austin. Olivia has also interned at a number of leading arts institutions around the country. In just the few months that she's been a part of the Art Department, Olivia has brought a lot of skill and energy to the position and we hope that all of you get to meet her soon. Please reach out to [email protected] to schedule gallery tours and classes.
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Photo credit: Olivia Spiers |
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A Teaching Tool: TAG Kickstarts Customized Class Visits |
My name is Olivia Spiers, and I’m the new Gallery Coordinator at The Art Galleries (TAG) at ACC. I’m excited to announce that TAG is now scheduling Customized Class Visits and offering options for Crossover Assignments for all ACC courses!
We are offering faculty two options:
Customized Class Visits:
After a preliminary meeting with instructors, TAG staff will build a Customized Class Visit composed of activities and discussions that are aligned with class projects and assignments listed on the syllabus. After this visit, students will receive customized handouts as a resource to review that includes links and other materials for further exploration of the topics, artworks, and artists we discussed in the galleries.
Crossover Assignments:
This second option takes our collaboration a step further through the creation of asynchronous assignments that are designed for class credit or extra credit. TAG staff will work with professors to create assignments that require students to visit the galleries on their own to complete a worksheet, write a short paper, or create an artwork in response to the exhibition. The assignment itself would be built and tailored based on the objectives, skills, and techniques students are learning in their specific class.
I’m always open to collaborating and promoting The Art Galleries and art itself as a teaching tool that can be utilized in all ACC courses. We also welcome your ideas for ways to integrate The Art Galleries at ACC in your class, so please email me your suggestions!
Olivia Spiers
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Faculty & Alumni Spotlight: Jewelry |
Austin Community College’s Jewelry Department has not only trained some of Austin’s most talented jewelers, but Jewelry Department alums have even gone on to have their jewelry purchased and worn by famous stars, as well as regularly featured in TV shows and movies.
Alum and Adjunct Professor Deborah Wilson Taylor of Femailler has had her jewelry featured at least 18 different times on at least 8 different TV shows, including Bones, The Vampire Diaries, This Is Us, and NCIS: Hawai’i. Femailler jewelry has also been purchased and worn by professional athletes, TV hosts, actresses, and more.
Photo credit: Deborah Wilson Taylor
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Recent graduate Rachel Price of Rach B Jewelry has had her jewelry worn by stars such as Hilary Duff and Mandy Moore, as well as featured in movies such as Lifetime’s “A Picture Perfect Holiday”. She has also become a favorite of the styling department at CBS’s “The Young and the Restless”, who have featured Rach B Jewelry over a dozen times on Y&R in the last year alone.
Both Rachel and Deborah are members of a niche entertainment marketing organization called The Artisan Group (http://theartisangroup.org), which is based out of California, and works exclusively with vetted and talented handmade artists from all over the world.
Photo credit: Rachel Price
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The ACC Music Department Will Debut It’s First Wind Ensemble Fall 2022 |
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The Wind Ensemble is the first large scale instrumental ensemble in the history of ACC and it comes at a good time as ACC will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary.
With the opening of the new 2000 building on the Highland Campus in 2021, ACC can now accommodate large music ensembles such as wind ensembles and string orchestras. The highlight of the 2000 building is the 150-seating capacity performance hall facility adjacent to the new black box theater and dance studio.
Dr. Albert Lo, Director of Instrumental Ensembles states “We are so excited to finally debut the Wind Ensemble after a two-year delay due to the Pandemic”. “Large music ensembles are a critical cognate of a growing music department; developing essential skills that will prepare the students for success at a four-year institution.”
The 40 plus member Wind Ensemble will consist of current music students, incoming freshmen as well as community members. The Wind Ensemble will rehearse on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:00-3:00pm with an addition of an evening section for community members.
The goal of ACC is to have two ensembles; an academic ensemble that prepares students for transfer into a four-year institution and a community ensemble that welcomes anyone interested in playing an instrument as continuing education student.
“We hope to have the interest in building the two ensembles, there is certainly enough talent in the Austin area to accomplish this goal” Lo said. “The key to success”, Lo reiterates “is to let the public know that we have this wonderful opportunity to make music together”. Lo hopes to continue spreading his message while visiting the high schools within the Austin Community College District. “We want the students to know that they have an option here at ACC to participate in large ensembles”.
Photo credit: Albert Lo
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The 46th Annual Student Art Exhibition Chancellor's Awards
The Art Galleries (TAG) at Austin Community College are pleased to announce that Dr. Rhodes has chosen twelve students out of this exhibition to receive the Chancellor’s Award this year. As a part of this award, some of the students’ artworks will be acquired into the Art Department Permanent Collection and may be featured in ACC Faculty and Staff birthday cards.
Please join us in congratulating the following Chancellor’s Award recipients for 2022:
Salvador Juarez - Empty Space
Taryn Uribe Turner - Chirp and Bark
Jena Randall - Cloisonné Acorn Earrings and Necklace
Rachel Archer - Outrun The Wolf
Miranda Guillory - Line Drawing, Boot
tayler duprel - searching
Maddie George - Modern Jomon
Maggie Allen - Musical Cocoon
Gabrielle Gomez - Abduction
Zoe Loy - France
Emma McLain - Cardboard Fish
Rebecca Waters - Penny & Nico
If you missed the exhibition, you can find the 46th Annual ACC Student Art Exhibition Online Catalogue here, which features all the student artworks from the show. The catalogue is also available on our website.
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Shane Anderson, ACC Music Department Chair, has been busy promoting ACC’s music department as a collaborative pianist this spring. In May, Dr. Anderson performed a recital with hornist Andrew Bain, principal horn of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert was in Edinburg, TX, and sponsored by the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley Patron of the Arts. (Pictured above are Anderson, Bain, and Dr. Monica Martinez, Lecturer of Horn at UTRGV.)
Anderson also performed at the International Trumpet Guild Convention in San Antonio on June 3rd in a concert featuring the Romantic Trumpet works of Stanley Friedman. This was the world premiere of Friedman's Sonata in B minor for trumpet, cello, and piano, and also featured his first large scale work in the Romantic Style, Sonata no. 2 in F minor for Trumpet and piano. (Pictured below are Composer Stanley Friedman, Anderson, Carrie Pierce (Professor of Cello at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi) and Matthew Swihart (Professor of Trumpet at Nicholls State University).
In addition to Dr. Anderson’s many professional performances he has also lent his time and expertise to Austin’s local high schools, playing for UIL competitions, choir concerts, and ensemble concerts.
To hear more about Shane Anderson’s performance schedule, please contact, [email protected]
Photo credit: Music Department
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Here are the excellent poems that our panel of judges have selected for recognition in the 2021-22 Vision+Voice Poetry Contest!
Congrats to all poets who participated, as well as the teachers and parents who encouraged this great work.
Stay tuned for news about how we will honor these wonderful winning poets!
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Austin Community College
Arts & Digital Media Division
6101 Airport Blvd.
Austin, Texas 78752
512-223-3352
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